Another positive was the reaction after the penalty.
Fonte and VvD were incensed and went marauding forwards. Showed me that we’ve still got good spirit there.
A negative would be Davis’s role. He’s been the glue for me in recent years and in this formation we’re not getting the best from him.
Definitely.
Glad to see VVD and Fonte showing a bit of passion. Thought the back four and GK was generally decent.
Again, don’t understand why Hojbjerg doesn’t start.
Yeah, this concerns me, too, Bletch.
I know it’s stating the bleeding obvious but starting this conjested run of fixtures in the bottom three is far from ideal. It will be interesting to see the team selection for Thursday, and how much squad rotation Puel will employ.
Personally, I want to see us have a real go at the European competition, which, in the main, means putting out our strongest team; BUT obviously the Prem League fixtures have to take precedence so …
We were unlucky today, thought we looked confident and played like warriors. I’m starting to ‘get’ the diamond and its possibilities … for large periods in the game we bossed midfield, no mean feat against Arsenal.
I do wonder however, if Puel still thinks our strikeforce is good enough, now he’s seen them for a few games.
Originally posted by @saintbletch
A negative would be Davis’s role. He’s been the glue for me in recent years and in this formation we’re not getting the best from him.
He’s very under-rated.
Originally posted by @Fatso
Originally posted by @saintbletch
A negative would be Davis’s role. He’s been the glue for me in recent years and in this formation we’re not getting the best from him.
He’s very under-rated.
Not sure you’ve under-rated him enough there, Fatso. I’d say he’s extremely under-rated. Possibly more.
Steven Davis … now there’s a player you wouldn’t want to lose.
I agree he’s not been ‘firing on all four’ so far but don’t think it’s the diamond, as such, that’s a problem. Think it’s just taking him a bit longer to feel comfortable with it, than the younger players.
He’s also 31 and had a pretty full on summer with lots of gametime with NI … and we all know how much energy he expends in a game. Feeling a bit jaded mentally maybe ?
I’m sure he’ll be back up to speed soon enough.
Well, he was proved wrong, yet again
That’s a victory in itself!
The other thing I’d like to watch in the replay of the pen decision, is the role that the prostrate Koscielny plays.
We play to the whistle in any case but…
Was he interfering with play - he was certainly a distraction?
Did he not have a head injury - one of our lot had just kicked him in the face?
Were our players distracted and expecting to either kick the ball out of play or have Arsenal kick the ball out?
Originally posted by @Optimus-trousers
Sourced from Mirror.co.uk article
Arsene Wenger refuses to comment on penalty decision in Arsenal vs Southampton
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Arsene Wenger refused to comment on referee Robert Madley’s decision to award Arsenal a late penalty in their clash with Southampton.
The match was poised at 1-1 going into injury-time when the official pointed to the spot following a foul on Olivier Giroud by Jose Fonte.
Fonte was pulling Giroud’s shirt as the Frenchman attempted to control the ball in the Southampton penalty area, and Santi Cazorla converted the resultant spot-kick from 12 yards to give Arsenal a crucial three points.
Madley appeared to make the right decision by giving the penalty, although Matt Le Tissier did voice his disagreement with the verdict on Sky Sports.
Wenger said he couldn’t comment on the incident because he hadn’t seen a replay of it, but admitted it was key for his team to get the win.
Arsenal 2-1 Southampton: Santi Cazorla scores last gasp penalty to steal the win - 5 things we learned
“It is a relief, because we missed many chances and they had one or two opportunities having thrown everything forward,” Wenger said.
"Honestly, everyone is telling me it was a penalty, but I’ve not yet seen it again.
"There was a long delay before Santi Cazorla took the penalty - he did very well to score because he felt a heavy mental weight for the team. He played very well, because he helped us get back into the game after we started not fluent and not pacey.
“I also give Laurent Koscielny a lot of credit - he came back from Russia on Thursday and today he scored when we were 1-0 down. Fantastic.”
Go to the original article…
…limpidly generated by Optimus trousers…beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!
I have to say, it looks like a pen there.
Cunt. Fuck off back to SWF.
I’m sorry, but that’s a penalty! Clear as you like. Shame after such a good display on the day. We did the same at OT, played well and gave a stupid penalty away. You cannot pull shirts in the box!
Except for the foul on Long, you mean.
Did not see the game. Was long fouled as that ball came in?
I really dont think it was a penalty. Ive seen it a few times and it doesn’t look enough to be a penalty for me. Even if it was, it obviously wasnt as “clear as you like” (to be frank it’s ludicrous to use that expression given the level of debate and the numbers who cant believe it)
Ian Wright is struggling to see it as a penalty on MOTD and Shearer says its never a penalty. Not really what I’d call “clear as you like”
I’m with you here, Fat Boy. Just watched it on MotD and even Ian Wright was only pretending it was a pen. And yes, Long was fouled some time before that and it wasn’t given - as Stench said above somewhere, Monreal’s reaction at that point told the story. He knew it was a foul and he’d already been booked, so his immediate gesture was one of “I didn’t mean to do that, honest!”.
Still and all, we should have been ahead by at least one goal by then.
Maybe a pen, probably not, but the key thing is consistency. If that tussle had happened at the other end in the 90th minute - Koscielny on Redmond say - would the referee have given us a pen?
Not a fucking chance
I thought Frenchy put his arm across José’s face and left him no option but to grab hold to stop himself going over. Not impressed with the officials. Didn’t watch replays after game as rather annoyed.
Only got to see the second half, but i thought it was calling out for Austin up front and everyone seemed to ignore Højbejergs movement through the middle(when he eventually came on). I spent most of the time he was on shouting at the tv “look at Højbejerg’s movement and feed it in to him”. This is a player that will make the killer pass(preferably to Austin, who knows where the goal is).
I disagree with the comments about Davis(hate to say it), don’t think he’s up to the way of playing that Puel wants. I do accept any abuse coming my way for saying that and will be very pleased to be proved wrong. But although it might not be obvious yet, i believe we’ve moved up a level and Davis may not fit(Long as well((sorry again, but i can’t see how they fit Puel’s way of playing)).
All that said, i’ve managed to watch the mu game and second half of this one, so there’s a fair chance i’m talking bollocks(bit pissed, so could be odds-on chance).
